Picuris Road Dispersed Camping

We camped on Forest Road 114 last night, just outside of Taos, NM. Taos is a friendly little artist hub with a neat historical town square. Lots of local goods and art. The town is still heavily affected by COVID-19 restrictions. Restaurants are outside dining and take-out only. Masks are required in any public setting. There are still quite a few businesses that remain temporarily closed.

Our campsite was quiet despite being near the highway. There is a sign that says "not suitable for passenger vehicles" which I can agree with if it has rained recently. But otherwise, sedans could make it up the road without issue.

PROs: Some old evidence of elk and cows were nearby, though we didn't see any. Lots of birds and cute little ground squirrels. Flat sites are easily accessible to TTs and Class Cs.

CONs: Previous occupants left behind trash in the fire pit which we picked up. The vault toilets were closed with COVID-19 signs from the local government. No water nearby, either, which if you rely on it for your life straw bottles like we do, is a bit of a bummer. There was a stream down the road from our site, but someone had dumped a large mound of trash along the banks (toilets, construction debris) so we didn't want to risk it.

All in all, not the best experience we've had on this trip, but was still pretty enjoyable.

Upon entering, there will be a sign that says “not suitable for passenger vehicles”. Unless it has recently rained, this is totally stupid as my Volkswagen Beetle made it in EASY and if she can do it anyone can do it. Just a tiny bit of a bumpy dirt road but that’s all. We drove through some trees for about a quarter mile and then drove into a clearing that showcased the stars like we’ve never seen before. It wasn’t buggy so we were able to lay with our heads outside of our tent and saw like 7 shooting stars within a 10 minute span and it was awesome!!!! It looked like there were 5-ish spots in the trees to pull into as campsites but no one was there when we arrived so we camped out in the middle of the clearing right next to the awesome and huge fire pit already set up. I highly recommend this campsite if you are looking for something private but close to civilization, quiet (we couldn’t even hear the cars!), and beautiful!!!